This invention relates generally to liquid dispensing means, and more particularly to such means for dispensing water from five-gallon water bottles.
The practice of selling drinking water in five-gallon bottles is not new, but in more recent years the volume of water thus sold, and the number of companies engaging in the sale of the water, have increased manyfold. From the beginning, the means for dispensing water from such five-gallon bottles has consisted essentially of a stand with a seat to support the shoulder of the bottle in upside-down position, and a gravity-flow faucet arrangement through which the water trickles at a relatively slow rate when the faucet is opened. This rather primitive dispensing apparatus has certain disadvantages, perhaps the chief of which is the necessity of lifting the heavy water bottle to the proper height for use and inverting it into the seat on the stand. A full five-gallon bottle of water weighs about 52 lbs., and this is a heavy weight for anyone to lift. Lifting and maneuvering the heavy bottle of water into its position could cause hernia, or other injury, in even a strong healthy man. For many people, such as most women, disabled persons, older individuals, children, and the like, the task is impossible. Also, there is an inherent risk that a bottle being lifted into position on a conventional dispensing stand will be dropped and break. The breakage of such a bottle causes a minor flood, and creates a mess of rather major proportions that must be cleaned up, as well as setting the stage for personal injury from broken glass and, in some cases, damaging property. Finally, as indicated above, the drawing of water from a water bottle on a conventional dispenser of the above-described type is a fairly slow procedure, and therefore one which is somewhat annoying to many individuals.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,179,292 to Terry discloses a water cooler having a platform adapted to support a pair of five-gallon water bottles and a three-sided cabinet into which the loaded platform can be rolled for use. The water cooler includes a refrigeration unit and an air pump driven by an electric motor to pressurize one of the bottles and thereby force water into the refrigeration unit for cooling. The air pump is of the piston type, and it is common knowledge among those familiar therewith that oil invariably gets past the piston of such a pump to contaminate the air being compressed. The disadvantages of this in a system in which the compressed air contacts drinking water are obvious. Furthermore, the air delivery system in the Terry water cooler has no built-in filtering means to strain particulate matter out of the air passing therethrough. It is well known that indoor air is laden with all types of particulate matter, including dust, soot and the like, and this "dirty" air is pumped directly into a water bottle by the Terry apparatus. Such particulate matter therefore contaminates Terry's drinking water, and, besides being obnoxious by its presence, it carries airborne bacteria into the water to deleteriously affect its potability.
From the foregoing, it will be evident that utilization of the Terry air pressurizing means on bottled water would result in contamination of the water by oil, particulate matter and bacteria and would thus be an unsatisfactory expedient to those bottled water subscribers (no doubt the majority) who use bottled water for its sparkling purity and freedom from unpleasant tasting components of the type found in tap water from the average municipal, or other, source.